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CTL-VII-0045

“I did my best work in the dark and no one will ever know — and I'm at peace.”

CTL · Pillar III — Control CTL-VII · Own Only What Is Yours.

The work was real whether or not anyone saw it. You did it right when there was no audience and no reward, and the satisfaction you feel is the only verdict that was ever yours to issue. What others notice was never your department. The quality is.

Your Practice

  1. Name the specific thing you did well that no one witnessed.
  2. Resist the urge to find someone to show it to for credit.
  3. Let the doing of it well be the whole reward.
  4. When recognition comes for something else, do not chase it back here.

The Architects

“When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.”

— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, ch. 9 (James Legge translation)

More under CTL-VII

CTL-VII-0001“I'm obsessing over something I can't control.”CTL-VII-0002“My anxiety is through the roof and I can't shut my brain off.”CTL-VII-0003“I stopped worrying about what people think and I feel lighter.”CTL-VII-0004“I let go of something I couldn't control and found peace.”CTL-VII-0005“I finally accepted that not everything is my responsibility.”CTL-VII-0006“Someone I trusted let me down badly.”
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